What Does Your Word Really Mean?
Whether I’m interacting with an individual coaching client, organization, prospective client, service provider, or someone else, something I hear often are the words “I will…”, it may be “I will:
Do that action by Mar 13th”
Have the information to the team on Wednesday”
Send the contract on Monday”
Email you the link next week”
Or some other action they're pledging to do in the future. These pledges are also known as commitments.
As change agents and leaders, we’re often making commitments, whether at work, in our personal lives, or to ourselves. The question is, how often do you follow through on what you say you will do (i.e. your commitment)? In other words, what does your word really mean?
Does it mean:
Your word is important to you, you will follow through on what you’ve committed to do no matter who you gave the commitment to and what the commitment is, and if something changes, you will communicate this to the person you gave your word to?
Now this includes occasionally forgetting about a commitment you’ve made because you’re human, and when this happens, you reach out to the person, apologize for it, and then follow through on what you said you would do
Sometimes your word is important to you, sometimes you will follow through on what you’ve said you will do, and sometimes you will communicate changes depending on:
Who you’re giving the commitment to?
For example, perhaps anytime you:
Tell your boss you will do something, it’s important to you to keep your word on it, yet telling your sister you will do something, it’s less important to you whether you keep your word
Say to another person you will do something, it's important to you to keep your word on it, yet when you tell yourself you will do something, it’s less important whether you keep your word
What the commitment is?
For example, perhaps showing up to visit your friend who has been struggling, it’s important to you to keep your word, yet telling your spouse you will clean out the shed this weekend is less important to you to keep your word on
It matters little to you whether you follow through on what you just told the person you will do, and many times you never bother to communicate back to the person, you’ve changed your mind on the commitment?
Over the course of my 20+ years as a change agent, I’ve seen many, many people with their word falling under #2 or #3 above, which has an impact on those they’ve made commitments to, including themselves if the commitment was to themselves. Yet many times, the person seems unaware how they are impacting the person they made the commitment to.
How does it impact the other person if your word falls under #2 or #3 above? The person may be viewing you as:
Untrustworthy
Unreliable
Less credible
Uncaring and/or lacking empathy
And the list goes on. Given so many people’s word falls under #2 or #3 above, how much do you think you stand out as a change agent / leader if your word means #1 above?
Reflecting on this blog post:
How trustworthy and reliable have you been with your word to:
Others?
Yourself?
If your word falls under #2 above, what determines whether you will follow through on what you say you will do?
How happy are you with what your word currently means?
Call to Action
Struggling to change what your word means? Reach out to Rosanne for help so you can align to who you want to be, feel more calm and at peace with yourself, and be a more effective change agent / leader for yourself, your organization, and your family.
Using the comments feature, what did you learn from a previous time you broke your word?
Found this blog useful or know someone this can help? Share it with your network and sign up on the home page to receive the latest blog posts.
About the Author: Rosanne Essiambre helps change agents and departments in one-on-one and group settings to be seen, be heard, and be effective in bringing about change in the organization and/or in their personal lives. She provides consulting and facilitation to organizations to improve communications and collaboration, smooth out the change / transformation journey, get to the root cause of an issue so it can be solved for good, improve processes, and implement successful lessons learned. And she conducts workshops, trains, and speaks on Energy Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Being a Change Agent and more. If you or your organization could use support with your change effort or some inspiration, contact Rosanne for a complimentary discovery session. Rosanne is a Change Agent Coach, Facilitator, Six Sigma Black Belt, Change Management / Continuous Improvement Consultant, Speaker, and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner with more than 20 years experience working on a variety of transformations across a diverse set of industries both domestically and internationally, while continuously improving herself.